Uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft are expected to play a key role in the air and missile defence of the United Kingdom through the 2030s, augmenting the crewed fighters that form the core of the mission, the Ministry of Defence has said.
The detail came in a written parliamentary answer from Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard on 10 July, responding to Ben Obese-Jecty, the Conservative MP for Huntingdon, who asked what assessment had been made of the potential impact of CCAs on integrated air and missile defence into the 2030s, referencing the Defence Investment Plan.
Pollard set out where the weight of the mission currently sits. “The RAF combat air force provides the core of UK IAMD capability, with Typhoon and F-35 defending UK and NATO skies against air and cruise missile attack, supported by Voyager tankers and Wedgetail early warning aircraft,” the minister said. “Through the 2030s, Collaborative Combat Aircrafts are expected to also play a key role in IAMD as they augment combat air platforms.”
The answer said the plan’s £790 million of additional homeland IAMD investment “prioritises the sustainment of critical foundational capabilities while enhancing Command and Control and sensing functions to maximise the effectiveness of existing air defence systems and effectors,” with the investments collectively aiming to provide a more resilient and integrated architecture, greater redundancy, and stronger decision-making through improved situational awareness, ensuring the UK is better able to detect, assess and respond to evolving threats while establishing the foundations for future capability growth.
The answer connects two programmes the plan funds separately, the CCA effort, backed by £300 million and drawing on technologies and manufacturing techniques from GCAP, is intended to produce a concept demonstrator flying by at least 2030, with the department seeking to accelerate an operational capability as soon as possible thereafter, and the confirmation that the aircraft are expected to contribute to homeland air defence adds a mission to the loyal wingman roles usually discussed, in which the drones extend the sensors and magazines of crewed fighters.
Adding uncrewed aircraft to the air defence force would increase the number of platforms available to meet the kind of mass drone and cruise missile raids demonstrated in Ukraine and the Middle East, threats against which the number of available fighters, and the missiles they carry, sets the ceiling on what can be intercepted.
